MILAN (AP) — A women’s prison near Naples was evacuated Tuesday as a precaution after a magnitude 4.4 earthquake with an epicenter near an active volcano west of the southern Italian port city forced hundreds of residents into tents or cars to sleep. No injuries were reported and only minor damage was reported after Monday evening’s earthquake.
The earthquake was the strongest in history around the Phlegraean Fields, a vast area of ancient volcanic centers near the Tyrrhenian Sea in a zone that includes the western neighborhoods of Naples and its suburbs, said Giuseppe De Natale, a volcanologist from Italy’s INGV National Geophysics and Volcanological Center. During the last major event in 1984, 40,000 residents were evacuated during a period of intense seismic activity as a precaution against a feared eruption that did not occur.
About 140 inmates at a women’s prison in the suburb of Pozzuoli were evacuated while officials checked the building for damage. A dozen apartment buildings were also evacuated for structural checks, forcing about 40 families to flee their homes, RAI state television reported.
About 150 smaller quakes kept the population on edge overnight. At least 500 people slept in tent cities set up by the civil defense agency, while others stayed in cars. Major traffic jams occurred as people tried to flee the area.
The area around the Phlegraean Fields is both seismically and volcanically active. The surface has been pushed up 1.3 meters since 2006, which is higher than before the last major event in 1984, but De Natale stressed that it was impossible to predict when an eruption or stronger earthquake might occur.
At least 500,000 people live in the zone most at risk if the volcano erupts, and the INGV is calling for a government plan to ensure structures can withstand an earthquake of at least 5.0 magnitude.
